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To be honest, I think Gay is a good tackler in run support (AP faceplanting not withstanding). He has succeeded in the nickel before. Not many are going to be perfect so you put the players on the field where they can play to their strengths. Everyone has a role. Isnt that how NE does it?

Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, hear the lamentations of their women.

Gay's has been the team whipping boy since he got face planted by AP. I think he's just as good as Deshea Townsend was and can add value. He'll make some plays and like Deshea sometimes he'll get beat and will struggle against bigger WRs.

Though I do not agree that Gay is as good a player as Deshea the bottom line is until we have someone better he is going to get playing time. Van Dyke and Hawthorne didn't pan out. The Green kid is athletic with speed but is so raw. We need to draft a corner and I'm sure we'll select one in May.
This draft has some solid corners in the early rounds and I would not be surprised is we drafted a corner by round 2.

Though I do not agree that Gay is as good a player as Deshea the bottom line is until we have someone better he is going to get playing time. Van Dyke and Hawthorne didn't pan out. The Green kid is athletic with speed but is so raw. We need to draft a corner and I'm sure we'll select one in May.
This draft has some solid corners in the early rounds and I would not be surprised is we drafted a corner by round 2.

Townsend is an interesting comparison - I remember that being the name that was thrown around when Gay was drafted. I think Townsend was a bit better than Gay in all respects - a bit better blitzing, a bit better in coverage and a bit better in creating turnovers. I went back and looked at his stats, and Townsend had 15.5 sacks and 21 picks when he retired. Pretty impressive for an unheralded late round pick.

I think it's accurate to describe Gay as a poor man's Townsend.

I'm not sure if this is a compliment to Gay or an indictment of the other players, but I think everybody expected him to be overtaken by Lewis and Allen, and both times, they ended up in a time share with Gay.

Gay is a typical journeyman football player. Has known limitations, is fundamentally sound, the team is able to make it work. I was going to say Gay was no Townsend, but thinking about Townsend playing against today's beastly, speedy WRs I could see he would similarly struggle.

To say Gay is anything near Townsend is an insult to Townsend. Townsend played smart, kept things in front of him and tell me whenever there were as many negative topics, Townsend bashers or the Steelers allowing Townsend to leave as it has gone on with Gay. We could only hope we had a Townsend still playing opposite of Ike. Since Gay became a Steeler I've had no use for him. And just goes to show you how messed up the coaching and front office is to have originally signed him, smart to finally.....finally let him go and then to bring him back. Along with other rebound Steeler players.

To say Gay is anything near Townsend is an insult to Townsend. Townsend played smart, kept things in front of him and tell me whenever there were as many negative topics, Townsend bashers or the Steelers allowing Townsend to leave as it has gone on with Gay. We could only hope we had a Townsend still playing opposite of Ike. Since Gay became a Steeler I've had no use for him. And just goes to show you how messed up the coaching and front office is to have originally signed him, smart to finally.....finally let him go and then to bring him back. Along with other rebound Steeler players.

To say Gay is anything near Townsend is an insult to Townsend. Townsend played smart, kept things in front of him and tell me whenever there were as many negative topics, Townsend bashers or the Steelers allowing Townsend to leave as it has gone on with Gay. We could only hope we had a Townsend still playing opposite of Ike. Since Gay became a Steeler I've had no use for him. And just goes to show you how messed up the coaching and front office is to have originally signed him, smart to finally.....finally let him go and then to bring him back. Along with other rebound Steeler players.

Say what you want to about William Gay, the man was as solid as any DB on our roster this year, when you look at his play from start to finish (the complete body of work as Tomlin would say).